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Historian tackles big question of
"What Caused CW?" (FLS 1/28/06)
What Caused the Civil War?
Reflections on the South and Southern History
by Edward L. Ayers
By Michael Aubrecht, FLS Town &
Country
Date published: 1/28/2006 CIVIL WAR
On
April 9, 1865, after four long years of fighting,
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the control of his
Confederate forces to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
at the village of Appomattox Court House in
Virginia. Nine days later, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
also turned over his army to Gen. William T.
Sherman near Durham, N.C. By the end of May, all of
the remaining Southern forces laid down their arms,
bringing to conclusion one of the worst trials in
American history and reuniting a country that had
been divided in a bloody Civil War.
As
a battered and broken nation began the long march
toward reconstruction and reconciliation, countless
families in the North and South grieved for more
than 620,000 men who had sacrificed their lives in
the name of their country.
Although these events took place
more than 140 years ago, the debate over the cause
of such a tragedy still rages to this day.
Historians, preservationists, civil rights
organizations and re-enactors from both sides of
the Mason-Dixon line have argued vehemently for
decades over topics such as slavery, secession,
states' rights and forced government. It is, at
times, as if the war had never ended; many of these
issues have become "hot button" topics in today's
litigious society.
One
can hardly open a newspaper without reading about
the political incorrectness of displaying the
Confederate battle flag or the enduring
disagreement over heritage versus hate. Across the
country, information-technology departments
scramble to increase the hard-drive capacities of
their servers as they strain under the volume of
letters to the editor that arrive every day in
support, or protest, of the "right to remember."
From small high school classrooms
to mammoth college lecture halls, teachers preach a
lesson plan that could have any number of titles,
depending upon their location. Some simply teach an
impartial history of the Civil War, while others
choose to present a more biased version, referring
to the time period as "The War Between the States"
or "The War of Northern Aggression."
Regardless of the medium or
approach, the one question that remains consistent
is, "What caused the Civil War?" It is a universal
question for which, perhaps, there is no answer; a
query that can never truly be defined and one that
is responsible for a "culture war" in which no end
appears in sight. Few people outside of the Civil
War community are comfortable with this topic and
even fewer would be willing to present their
arguments in bold, black print for everyone to
read.
In
order to define, at minimum, a portion of the cause
and more importantly to do so effectively, one
would have to possess a thorough and unbiased
understanding of 19th-century America, firsthand
experience with both Northern and Southern cultures
and the ability to discriminate historical fact
from fiction. The project would require that equal
time be given to both the liberal and conservative
sides of the country in the 1860s, while taking
into account the social, spiritual, psychological
and economic facets that separated them. As with a
baseball purist, the subject's conclusion would
have to be built on a foundation of statistics and
not legends and folklore. It is a risky and
daunting task that could be presented only by an
academic study with no political agenda. Sounds
impossible, right? Not quite.
Edward L. Ayers, the Hugh P. Kelly
professor of history at the University of Virginia,
and one of the country's leading historians, has
made a career out of tackling these very tough
topics. In addition to publishing several
critically acclaimed books on Southern society, he
is also one of the first historians to embrace the
concept of digital history and its educational uses
for the World Wide Web.
A
founding father of U.Va.'s famous "Valley of the
Shadow" project, Ayers helped to establish an
ever-expanding online archive that focuses on the
American Civil War as experienced in two
communities in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania and
Virginia. He is also the author of the
groundbreaking book "The Promise of the New South"
(1992), which won several prizes and was a finalist
for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer
Prize.
Ayers' latest offering, titled
"What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the
South and Southern History," takes this study of
the conflict to a whole new level. The book is
composed of a collection of essays, covering the
lifelong experiences and academic findings of the
author, that present a fresh perspective on
American culture and a call to revive the
"tradition of skepticism" in Civil War history.
The
book is clearly written by an academic and it flows
nicely from one conclusion to the next, resulting
in a smooth and uniform read that should please
scholars and laymen alike.
From the opening chapter, in which
Ayers reflects on reluctantly coming to terms with
himself as a Southerner, to the retrospective
period, when he discovers a passion for history,
the reader is presented with a firm foundation of
credibility that sets the stage for the forthcoming
arguments and conclusions.
Throughout the story, we walk
alongside Ayers as he grows from a disenchanted
youth to a leading historian and professor. That
alone is worth the read, as his very personal
reflections cover growing up in the South, and then
eagerly abandoning his roots for the hustle and
bustle of the Northeast, only to return home with a
newfound respect and appreciation for his people
and culture. It is a journey that comes full circle
and is one to which many can relate.
Ayers discusses the early origins
of the Internet and how a group of his colleagues
immediately recognized its potential for the study
of history. Through trial and error, this group of
computer-literate scholars ultimately developed a
new form of reference material that continues to
evolve to this day. A thoughtful essay on the late
historian C. Vann Woodward balances the book, as
the author pays tribute to his intellectual
mentor.
Ayers also defines the recurring
difficulties in studying a period of American
history that has been constantly under a
reformation of sorts. History, he maintains, is
messy and undetermined. And more often than not,
the truth is buried beneath decades of propaganda
and editorializing. The events of the Civil War are
so much more than just a series of battles to set
people free. The roots of the conflict go much
deeper than a fight for independence.
Over the last 140 years, most of
the general public has become lazy regarding the
study of history; most people accept whatever
"facts" are spoon-fed to them without question. In
the North, public opinion dictates that the Union
simply fought to free the slaves. And in the South,
the Confederacy is depicted as simply defending its
land against an invader. Clearly, Ayers understands
this dilemma. His efforts to provide the reader
with a glimpse of the very fabric of Southern
culture challenge any preconceived notion that a
war that turned brother against brother could be so
easily defined.
By
introducing other aspects, including regionalism,
idealism and a completely opposite optimism, the
author shows how neither region was on the same
page when it came to America's future. The rapid
progression of commerce and industry in the North
clashed with the romantic visions of an
agricultural and self-sufficient South and forged a
social division that went far beyond mere
politics.
Moving fluently between the past
and the present, Ayers also comments on the
sensitive subject of race relations, both prewar
and postwar. He insists that the culture of both
white and black Southerners has become a
trend-setting novelty of sorts that is routinely
hijacked by the rest of the country for
entertainment purposes. Television, radio, film and
the advertising industry are all guilty of using
redneck clichés and black stereotypes that
perpetuate ignorance on some levels.
One
of the more controversial issues presented by Ayers
is his opinion about the "revisionist"
interpretation of the causes of the Civil War made
famous in the '30s and '40s by James Randall and
Avery Craven. According to them, the Civil War was
not simply the result of a conflict over
fundamental issues like slavery, but more a
reaction to extreme party politics and an
irresponsible press.
He
also spends several pages commenting on other
works, including James McPherson's "Battle Cry of
Freedom" (1988) and Ken Burns' nine-part PBS
documentary film on the war (1990). Both concluded
that the Civil War was the inevitable consequence
of slavery, fought nobly on both sides. Ayers
argues, by contrast, that Confederates told
themselves they were fighting for a new nation
built on slavery, telling themselves in the process
that they were idealistic patriots rather than
defenders of an indefensible institution. In my
opinion, the author is to be applauded for
including these counter-points, as he obviously
intended to offer the arguments of his peers.
Although not everyone will be of
the same mind about it, all who read this book will
probably find themselves looking at the division of
the country at that time with a new insight and a
different perspective.
In
an e-mail interview with me, Ayers stated: "I wrote
this book because I love the American South. I love
it not with blind devotion, but with a love that
acknowledges all that the South has been and is.
The essays in this book look at the South from
different angles--past and present,
autobiographical and global, political and
cultural, defensive and critical. My hope is that
readers, whatever they think about the South, will
find something in these essays that may surprise
them about a place we all seem to know so
well."
I
truly enjoyed reading this book, and I feel that
Ayers has accomplished his goal. In the end, we may
not be any closer to agreeing on exactly what
caused the Civil War, but studies like this
certainly help both sides to gain some new
perspectives. For more information on the author,
visit his faculty bio webpage at
virginia.edu/history/faculty/ayers.html. For access
to "The Valley of the Shadow," go to
valley.vcdh.virginia.edu.
MICHAEL AUBRECHT of Spotsylvania
County is the author of "Onward Christian Soldier:
The Spiritual Journey of Stonewall" and "Christian
Cavalier: The Spiritual Legacy of J.E.B. Stuart."
Visit his Web site at...
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